I'm beginning to think his laptop is bugged, because not only has Paul Krugman been channeling The Tall One lately, but the thing with Lawrence O'Donnell banning Walsh was straight outta driftglass.blogspot. only a few days ago.

As DG said as we ate barbeque and slaw on pancake sandwiches (actually good) "Oh, it's going to be THAT kind of Saturday."

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Monday, July 25

You and your party will be blamed as hostage takers are blamed if you don't behave responsibly on the debt ceiling. I am sure you have had to work with the tea party freshmen but everyone that is drinking their poison will pay a price. I feel sorry for run-of-the-mill Republicans like you, who just want to keep your seats in Congress, but I feel more sorry for those of us living off of Social Security who feel insecure about their benefit because of the irresponsible posturing of people in YOUR party. I can't say anything that will change you or your party but I can hope that your influence, and particularly the influence of the mob to the right of you, is fleeting.

....teabaggers are crying about the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's intent to place restrictions against boating and other things near the city of Crystal River -- and now they're trying to get all Florida Tea Partiers to ask congress to block the wildlife service, according to the St. Petersburg Times.

And why would they be trying to do this? Because protecting animals like manatees is against the Bible and the Bill of Rights, according to one Tea Party leader.

"We cannot elevate nature above people," Citrus County Tea Party Patriots leader Edna Mattos told the paper. "That's against the Bible and the Bill of Rights."

This newspaper story might be telling the story with a bit of mocking editorializing, but it's still media fail. We need a new rule, Bill Maher:

Just because someone belongs to a tea party group, does not mean they deserve to be automatically quoted in any media outlet, particularly if what they say is akin to the rantings of a street drunk standing in his own urine and shouting at a parking meter.

In more benevolent days, Edna might have been given some sort of place in a mental facility where she could imagine The Bible and Bill of Rights elevating her species above those more endangered than herself. As it is, she's in the Tea Party, so what she says is news.

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Last night I had to drive 90 miles or so to an area airport to pick up kids. A co-blogger wrote to say he hoped the drive went well.

Yep all went well except for those damn non-existent stimulus jobs in the form of I-55 construction workers. Good opportunity to tell my girls: That's STIMULUS money slowing us down!

So I went to look for an image to accompany this post and look! There's a young white guy working in manufacturing! I thought all those jobs were gone. He works for Rice Signs of Auburn, Alabama, whose website brags that they manufacture "a full line of Aluminum American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Project Funding Signs."

I realize there isn't much innovation in making road signs. And that there isn't "added value" in rebuilding highways, except that those jobs increase the likelihood that moms in minivans will get their children home from the summer vacation safely.

But a job is a job in the ten percent unemployment world. And the stimulus money that was NOT in the form of TAX CUTS (one-third of the stimulus bill, thanks, GOP!) actually created some jobs. Imagine how many more make-work jobs could be paying people's rent if we didn't have to provide a tax cut for a billionaire every time we hired two workers.

Also, to hell with those who want to say the stimulus cost x number of dollars per job. You're including the tax cut in that number, you douchebag.

My congressman's "plan," [reduce regulation, increase offshore oil and onshore gas frack drilling, pass the Ryan budget and more free trade agreements] does nothing for the college grad who is out of work today, except convince him that government can do nothing for him. I expect that's their goal, and the fact that they are willing to increase human suffering and America's economic future to push that ideology is nothing less than sinful.

Friday, July 15

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Sunday, July 10

Thanks for your email. I don't have a lack of "respect" for progressives who are angry with Obama. But I worked for Kennedy in 80 and got eight years of Reagan for staying true to my principles. You're just talking to someone who got badly burned, and won't play with fire again, is all.

You're also talking to someone who LIVES off of Social Security RIGHT NOW. My ex husband is 70, and the kids get SS checks that pay the mortgage on my house and all of my living expenses. I have no other income but the few dollars that come from the podcast when people feel like giving.

If this default crisis goes south and Social Security checks do not go out in August, I will be behind in my mortgage payments from day one.

I don't know what to tell you about Obama except that any Democrat running in 2008 except for Dennis Kucinich would have been the same, and Dennis Kucinich told reporters in 2007 that he wanted Ron Paul for his running mate. Yeah.

I'm going to work on issues rather than on candidates, because candidates are human and break your heart every time. And in terms of Obama running against any Republican, I am not going to vote for the person who will secure Clarence Thomas's political positions on the Supreme Court for the next thirty years.

Thanks very much for your kind words and thoughts. We really appreciate it.

Saturday, July 9

These people have lost their minds, because apparently if the baby inside you is already dead, that is NO EXCUSE.

Pro-Life Wisconsin is attacking the state funding of University of Wisconsin Medical School for teaching to medical students, procedures that are necessary in the case of what is called "fetal demise," where an unborn infant has died in utero.

When I had my miscarriage, I had to go in to have a D&C performed in order to remove the fetus, which had died weeks earlier. Many women find themselves in the same situation either due to missed miscarriages, or incomplete miscarriages where they have retained bits of the products of conception.

If doctors no longer learn how to perform a D&C, what exactly are women in that situation to do?

Well, nothing, if Pro-Life Wisconsin has its way. They are currently filing a lawsuit demanding that the University of Wisconsin's medical department stop teaching its med students how to perform "abortions," claiming it violates a funding ban on state dollars going to abortion. The school currently sends students on a rotation through the local Planned Parenthood in order to not be accused of performing abortions on site.

Their problem is, if you know how to remove an ALREADY DEAD fetus from a woman's body, you also know how to perform an abortion. Better to blindfold every gynecologist in Wisconsin to the procedure rather than allow them the knowledge that, gasp, MIGHT lead to an abortion. Nevermind that it might also lead to maternal death.

By the way, I had several "D&C"s as part of my attempt to GET pregnant. It is a common procedure in infertility treatment. God forbid taxpayer dollars should be spent HELPING a woman carry a baby to term, save her own life, or simply teaching an obstetrician how to do his or her JOB.

“There are medically indicated pregnancy terminations, and physicians need to have skills to do that,” says [Doctor] Broekhuizen. He notes that even physicians who do not work in abortion clinics may well need to perform an abortion.

“There are situations where patients have fetal death in utero at 16 to 18 weeks of gestation,” he says. “The mode of delivery in the case of a dead fetus is exactly the same procedure as an abortion procedure. So learning these techniques is an essential part of what an ob/gyn needs to know in order to provide comprehensive care to women, regardless of where they choose to practice.”

And this is why, he says, the accreditation organization for ob/gyn programs requires that training in abortion services be offered.

The hatred of women in the anti-abortion ranks is once again unmasked.

Friday, July 8

And before anyone goes all "Sacrilege!" on my ass, I believe in my heart of hearts that Mary is the mother and sister and companion to every frightened girl who enters a Planned Parenthood clinic for HELP. And I know for a fact that not every pregnant woman who enters a PP clinic gets an abortion. Many of them go there so their babies will be born HEALTHY. And in many parts of the country, it's the only place many women CAN go for prenatal care. Think about that, fundie mofos.

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Friday, July 1

This episode was recorded before Mark Halperin said "dick." Would that a media millionaire could be suspended for being a right-wing hack disguised (badly) as a political expert (and, unBUHlieveably, a centrist), rather than for broadcasting a synonym for peenee on a Thursday.

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